It's Complicated
by Wiltara 4ever
Summary: Willow gets knocked out while on patrol with Buffy and wakes up in a strange new world where her only hope seems to be the blonde girl from the window. AU. More chapters to come later. Please review
1. Chapter 1

It's Complicated

Chapter 1

"Will! Watch out!" Buffy screams at me. Just as her words sink in and I scramble to get up from where I'd landed when Buffy pushed me out of the way of Sunnydale's newest unwelcome guest, everything turns black... The last thing I remember is her voice and a sniffle. It sounded like it was floating to my ears through a screen of pudding. "Oh God... Will..."

A few dream unicorns and rainbows, and maybe some cute little cartoon birdies flying circles over my head later, here I am. Where exactly "here" is, I have no idea.

I rub my eyes and look around; there's not much to see here aside from all the electronic gizmos piled up against a wall behind me. It's like I've died and gone to computer geek heaven!

_Oh God, is that what happened? Am I dead?_ A little voice in the back of my head tells me I would probably know if I was dead.

And after closer examination of my surroundings, I don't think heaven would have a creepy, smelly alley, which I imagine wouldn't be very Willow-friendly after dark. And I mean, even if it did, I may not be the most devout Jew ever, but come on, the only dirty alley in heaven? I dont think so. I-I mean, I hope not... Note to self: When ("if" the voice in my head corrects) I get home, work on that.

Since it looks all dusk-y out here, my Sunnydale instincts kick in; I get up and look around for... What am I looking for? On one hand, I don't know where I am, so a sign would be nice and I don't even know what day it is, so a calendar could work too. But on the other hand, I'm so tired and my stomach feels like it has bats flying around in it, so maybe a nice comfy bed I can use. But on the third hand (which is sometimes a real thing in Sunnydale) I could use a cross or something to protect myself with...

"Hey, where's everybody else? What happened to Buffy? A-and Xander?" I suddenly realize they're not here with me, but they were before I got knocked out... O-or killed... Or whatever happened... I don't think it matters if I say anything out loud since it looks like nobody's around. And I need some validation that I'm not just imagining all of this.

I walk out to the end of the alley and peer around the corner cautiously. Wouldn't do to trip and fall and make a klutz of myself my first time around the people here -though I have yet to see any of the hypothetical people- or get attacked by something. Alley attacks, not exactly of the rare in Sunnydale.

I only see some sketchy looking buildings and a few other alleys around. Which does nothing to calm me down, because what's happening is just starting to set in and I'm kinda wigged, to say the least.

I run out into the middle of the dirty street and wave my arms around over my head and jump up and down, "Hello? Hey, anybody here?" I call out, forgetting my caution in my sudden rush of panic. Then I have to stop jumping, cause hello again belly-bats.

I hear a faint click noise from a window up a couple floors from the ground in one of the slightly-less-shady buildings and look up, filled with equal parts of terror and relief. I'm not sure what I expected to see, but it definitely wasn't a blonde girl looking back at me, eyes wide with terror.

_Oh my God, a person!_ My first thought, replaced quickly with _Why does she look like that... Unless... Oh my God, there's a vampire behind me!_ I spin around, prepared to either run away or run away quickly. My 'fight or flight' response was replaced long ago with the much more effective 'flight or fly faster.' I highly reccommend it. Keeps you from getting as banged up.

I realize I'm babbling in my head, but apparently that's okay because I don't see anything but the same icky street and sketchy buldings behind me.

I turn back around to ask the girl why she was looking at me like that, but her window is empty. Maybe I just imagined her afterall. I run my hand through my red hair a few times in frustration.

"Well, now what?" I ask the ether. Sadly, no magical floating captions appear to answer my question, so I do the only thing I can think of. I sit down on the dirty street in the middle of God-Knows-Whereville and cry.


	2. Chapter 2

To the unnamed entity who left me the wonderfully kind review over the first chapter:

Thank you so much (: Your feedback means the world to me

and I'm so glad my story has you hooked and excited!

I can only hope you get as many warm fuzzies reading it as I did from reading your review (:

It's Complicated

Chapter 2

I cry for what feels like forever. I cry until I can't breathe. I cry until I run out of tears, and then I just sit shivering on the cracked asphalt of the broken street, too absorbed in my own little bubble of misery to notice whatever may or may not be going on around me.

"What does it matter anyway? I have no way to get in contact with Buffy or Xander or even Giles and I'm going to be stuck here for the rest of my life..." I mutter to myself, "But hey, look at the bright side, Self, maybe there'll be an apocalypse soon. Who knows?" I snort at my sad attempt at positive thinking.

After a while, I finally compose myself enough to see it's gotten quite a bit darker out than when I first arrived at this definitely-not-heaveny place. Again with the Sunnydale instincts kicking in; I get up and brush some of the street crumblies off my pants. I run my hand through my hair as I attempt to scope out the best- a.k.a. "safest"- place for me to hole up for a while until I can figure some stuff out.

After looking around at the dilapidated buildings, I decide I might as well try the building where I imagined the blonde girl earlier.

Except I didn't imagine her. Because as I'm walking over to the building, I see its door is open just a crack and I can just barely make out a flash of blonde hair.

My heart skips a beat at the sight of just a fraction of this girl's face and I'm paralyzed with not knowing what to do, because seeing her means everything that I thought about this place may be wrong. I can't tell if she's friendly or foe-ly, but at this point I'm too close to run away if she decides to attack, yet too far away to have a normal conversation with her if that's what she wants.

_Oh God, what do I do now? God! _I do the only thing I can think of. _Dear God... Um I don't know if you exist in this dimension, but if you can hear me, please let this girl be a friend... Or if that's too much to ask, please grant me the speed of a Slayer in running away from her as fast as I can. Thank you, Amen. Oh and P.S. God, not that I'm trying to bribe you or anything, 'cause you're, ya know, God and all, well of course you knew that, because you're you and that was dumb to point out to you... Anyway, um, God, if you get me through this, I promise to pray more a-and not just when I'm in a situation like this, I mean just in general, like, ya know, walking through the park on weekends... Or the cemetery on patrol, as the case may be... And I promise to keep the asking for things to a minimum... After this... Um, Amen. Again._

As I finish my prayer (I've always had a problem with rambling when I'm nervous) I look a little harder at the girl. I never took my eyes off her while I had my conversation with the Big Man Upstairs, but since I haven't moved since I first saw her in the doorway, I'm straining my eyes to get a better look at her, to see exactly how high she rates at first- well technically second- glance on my creep-o-meter.

Unfortunately, I can't get much in the way of seeing her aside from a bit of blonde hair and the fact that she's about my height, maybe a little taller. This is getting me nowhere.

I can hear my pulse pounding in my ears and feel my heart trying to pop right out of my chest as I take a deep breath and take one tentative, tiny step forward.

I'm not really sure what I expected the girl to do, but I'm fairly certain that I was most certainly surprised when she poked one hand through the tiny crack between the door and frame and motioned for me to come over to her. _It's like deja vu all over again... I've only seen her twice but she's surprised me both times._

I've gotten pretty good at sensing when danger is near, a _lot_ better at it than I was when Buffy first moved to Sunnydale. But I'm getting nothing from her, no bad signals. So I take another step forward.

There's about twenty feet between us now. She just stays there, unmoving. I take two steps forward. She hasn't moved at all since she waved me over, not even a twitch. I suddenly notice that it's eerily quiet here. I don't hear any crickets or owls or bats or anything. Nothing at all.

I take a few more steps toward her until there's about ten feet between us. _This is it, no turning back now. _Just as I think these words, she opens the door a couple inches wider and holds her hand out toward me in a gesture of welcome. Her face, however, remains hidden in the shadow of the door.

Now, having grown up in Sunnydale, and especially having spent the last couple years with Buffy, I've learned that while you should never judge a book by its cover, it is completely acceptable- and sometimes necessary for survival- to judge a stranger in the doorway to a slightly run-down building by a dirty alley in a place you've never been before by her face. But I've got no idea what to do besides go to this girl. So I lock my gaze on her hand, terrified of what I may see in her face, and I slowly walk the last few steps forward until I reach her outstretched hand, and tentatively place mine over hers.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry this chapter's a little bit little. It was originally part of chapter two but it seemed awful long, so I broke it up into two separate chapters.

It's Complicated

Chapter 3

She lightly grasps my hand, and the moment her skin makes contact with mine, I feel a spark shoot through my arm and it leaves my entire body all tingly in a nice way. My head snaps up and my gaze instantly locks with hers. I see eyes of the deepest ocean blue and I immediately know she would never harm me. I instantly feel safe with her. I see some emotion flash in her eyes for an instant, but before I can decipher what it is, it's gone.

I never want to stop looking into her eyes. I feel like I could just gaze into their blue depths for ever. I've heard that the eyes are the gateway to the soul... She has the most beautiful soul I've ever seen.

I don't know how long we stay standing there like that, my hand in hers, her hand in mine, gazing intently into one another's souls... A minute may have passed, maybe a day, but I'm still transfixed by the hypnotic blue. Somehow, I manage to tear my gaze from her eyes and I stare down at my feet, but I don't let go of her hand yet. She's made no move to let go of mine either. Her skin is so delicate, so smooth. I subconsciously start rubbing my thumb in circles along the back of her hand, relishing in its softness.

I open my mouth to say something... Anything... But nothing comes to mind. I have to do _something_ though, because if I don't, we may just stand here forever, and while I'd be fine with that, I somehow don't think that's what she waved me over for.

Just as I start to tell her my name, she quickly puts a long, slender finger up to her lips and I immediately shut my mouth. She opens the door just wide enough for me to pass through and I quickly walk into the building. As soon as I'm inside, she quickly but quietly shuts the door, leaving us in total darkness. _Thankfully she still hasn't let go of my hand; I'd be so lost without her..._ _Uh I-I mean, I wouldn't know where to go without her... Because, ya know, she's leading me through this dark room... And I wouldn't want to get lost in this room, no sirree! _I quickly amend in my head. _Jeez, where did that come from?_


	4. Chapter 4

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I just rediscovered my inspiration.

It's Complicated

Chapter 4

In the total darkness, I feel her pull me in close to her. Our faces are so close I can feel her breath on my neck, and my belly-bats return again, but they feel different this time. _Weird. But acceptable. Plus she smells really nice._ I have a strong urge to lean my head on her shoulder and just let myself melt in the calmness she seems to radiate, but I fight the urge off with some difficulty.

_Why is it so dark in here? And why do I have to be quiet?_

Finding the answers to these questions is priority number one.

_Oh dear God, why does she smell so good?_

...Priority number two.

I forget to breathe for a moment as she pushes her body impossibly closer against mine. My back is firmly pushed up against the door now. _What the frilly heck is going on?_ I think maybe I should ask her instead of myself, since I obviously don't possess any helpful information.

I can hear each quick, shallow breath the girl takes, and can feel unbelievably soft hair dance across my shoulder as she leans in. _Oh God, what is she doing?_ I think it's about time I start asking her all these burning questions I have for her.

Just as I open my mouth to this girl what the heck she thinks she's doing, I feel her arm wrap around my waist, in a sort of protective position. Her body goes rigid and I react by following suit. Another infinite moment passes. She exhales slowly and softly, and lets her arm fall from my waist. I'm unsure how to react to her sudden relaxation. I'm afraid she's going to let go of my hand, though, so I squeeze hers a little tighter for reassurance.

She takes a small step back and pulls me forward lightly. _Does she want me to follow her?_ Okay, so I may have trusted this girl enough to follow her into a run-down, pitch black building, but my trust has its limits. Not to mention, my head is still a little swimmy. I think I at least need to know something about... Well, anything, before I follow her any farther. I pull her back close to me, ignoring the feeling I get in my tummy again when her body presses against mine, much softer this time.

The scent of her envelopes me once again, and I almost lose track of my train of thought. _Almost_.

I lean my head forward, beside where I imagine her head to be in the darkness. The impossibly soft caress of her hair against my cheek tells me my estimation was surprisingly accurate. I tilt my head so my mouth is beside her ear, and I whisper so quietly that I'm not even positive any air actually escapes, "Should I trust you?"

After a moment, the girl responds softly in a breathy voice that sounds like music, "Do you?"


End file.
